


Sunburst

by theblasphemouscontessa



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Child Abandonment, Child Neglect, M/M, Slow Burn, Stony - Freeform, the ofc is just to get the plot going
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-06-02 00:05:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6542290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theblasphemouscontessa/pseuds/theblasphemouscontessa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Tony Stark was 42 years old he helped stop and alien invasion and joined a team. When Tony Stark was 44 years old his wife took the money and left the kids.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: A Brief Timeline of Significant Events

**Author's Note:**

> I had this dream where Tony was married and his wife left him because she couldn't take his constant superheroing. But my brain decided that wasn't bad enough, there had to be kids. And everyone must suffer.
> 
> As of right now there is nothing explicit but this story will eventually deal with child neglect, abandonment, and endangerment ad the after-effects thereof. More details of any specific squicks or triggers will be in the end notes.

Tony’s life has always been defined by moments. He existed in other people’s negative space and measured his life by events.

When Tony Stark was born his father was away on “business”. Howard Stark did not meet his son until he was three weeks old.

When Tony Stark was four years old he built his first circuit board. Howard Stark grunted, ruffled his hair, and called a press conference. This was the first time Tony’s face was on the front page of newspapers and covers of magazines. It would not be the last. Howard never actually told Tony that he was proud of him, or loved him, or was looking forward to seeing what his son brought into the world. He did, however, point out that the potentiometers were not being positioned for maximum efficiency. Howard waited until the reporters had left to say this.

When Tony Stark was seventeen years old he graduated from MIT. Summa cum laude. There was no press conference, only a short interview. Howard did not tell his son that he loved him, or was proud of him, or was looking forward to seeing what his son brought into the world. He did however gift him with his very own lab, far away from SI headquarters, where he may create to his heart’s content. Howard himself only visited his son twice in the three and a half years Tony lived and created in that space.

When Tony Stark was 21 years old his parents died in a car crash. There was a short press release, a scripted statement where Tony expressed his grief and reminded the public of his father’s accomplishments.

When Tony Stark was 23 years old he returned to Stark Industries as CEO and reluctantly followed the path set before him by his father.

When Tony Stark was 25 years old he met Mackenzie Luanne Dawson at a fundraiser for some charity or other who’s name and purpose had been buried beneath whiskey and champagne if he had ever known. 

When Tony Stark was 28 years old he joked that he’s never slept with the same woman twice unless multiple times in the same night counts. Some people rolled their eyes, most laughed. No one asked if the same held true for men. 

When Tony Stark was 30 years old family friend and honorary uncle Obidiah Stane began not so subtly suggesting it’s time for Tony to settle down and find an appropriate wife. Tony ignored him.

When Tony Stark was 31 years old he met Mackenzie Luanne Dawson at a fundraiser for some charity that he was pretty sure did not exist. Tony was fairly certain that most of the functions he’d been to in the last six months were a set up by Obie to force him to meet eligible and not very into casual sex women. Not that that stopped them.

When Tony Stark was 31 years old Mackenzie Luanne Dawson told him she was pregnant.

When Tony Stark was 31 years old Mackenzie Luanne Dawson became Mackenzie Luanne Stark. This hadn’t been Tony’s idea. It wasn’t Mackenzie’s idea either.

When Anna Maria Stark was born her father discretely ordered a paternity test. Despite having been in the room, it took three hours before he let himself hold her. When Tony Stark was 32 years old he met his daughter and apologized for ever doubting. 

When Tony Stark was 33 years old he created the first true Artificial Intelligence. There was no press conference, no announcement, he never even fully explained to the other occupants of the house what J.A.R.V.I.S. was truly capable of.

When Tony Stark was 34 years old he hired Virginia “Pepper” Potts as his P.A. and never looked back.

When Tony Stark was 35 years old he and Mackenzie got into a heated argument. Personalities being what they were, this was not the first time the couple truly fought. But it was one of the worst. Maybe this was when things should have ended, but Tony could never bring himself to regret what came after. Mackenzie left for two days, taking Anna with her and Tony really thought he might have died if they hadn't come back.

When James Michael Stark was born his father was being held captive in a cave in Afghanistan. When Tony Stark was 38 years old he met his son two months later than he would have liked.. 

When Tony Stark was 40 years old his father told him that he loved him, was proud of him, and believed that he would bring good things to the world. Also, Tony Stark did not die of palladium poisoning.

When Tony Stark was 42 years old he helped stop an alien invasion and joined a team.

When Tony Stark was 44 years old he came home from an extended mission to find his twelve year old daughter cooking stove-top Mac’n’Cheese for his six year old son and a note from his wife on the refrigerator door.


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna cannot cook. James needs a hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Both children try to explain the past few days to an already bruised and tired Tony Stark.
> 
> More detailed squick and trigger related notes at the end if you're worried.

“No thanks Cap.” Tony declined his teammate’s invitation to a celebratory dinner. Ordinarily he would have been all over that, but Tony had taken a surprisingly thorough beating over the course of the last four days. So instead of following the others to the SHEILD showers, Tony gave the group a jaunty wave and flew back to the tower alone. “I’m getting too old for this,” he grumbled to no one. His com systems had been damaged somewhere around the middle of the first day and while losing his connection to JARVIS had been uncomfortable, his local communications and targeting software was still active which was really all he needed.

Tony showered listlessly and changed into comfortable sweats once the bots had removed his damaged armor. There was a new blueprint already floating in his head as well as detailed plans for an upgrade to JARVIS but it could wait half an hour or so as the billionaire greeted his family and ate something that did not come in a vacuum sealed package. Even thus distracted, Tony thought it was oddly quiet in the penthouse. He dismissed it as the family being out, he couldn’t expect them to be waiting for him to get home if he couldn’t let them know when that would be after-all. Tony glanced at the bar then kept walking, he wanted food more than a drink at the moment. And he didn’t want to be drunk when Mackenzie and the kids got back, he hated them seeing him like that. But one drink wouldn’t hurt. 

He hesitated a moment, but soft voices from the kitchen made his mind up for him.

“I don’t think it’s supposed to look like that,” James was saying. 

“I followed the directions on the box,” Anna replied, voice uncertain. It sounded like Mackenzie had finally made good on her promise to teach their daughter to cook and it wasn’t going so well.

“Honey, I’m -,” Tony broke off when he saw the scene in front of him. Anna, all of twelve and a bit small for her age was poking at something in a saucepan on the seldom used stove while her brother stood on a chair that had been pushed up against the range. There were dirty dishes in the sink and an empty box of instant macaroni and cheese on the counter. Looking around, Tony saw more evidence of adolescent cooking attempts but no sign of any kind of attempted order or adult intervention.

“Daddy!” Twin voices shouted as both children looked up at his entrance. James jumped down from the chair and ran to leap at his father. Anna was slightly more sedate but she hugged him just as tightly. “I’m so glad you’re home,” she whispered in his ear and Tony thought she sounded more relieved than entirely necessary.

“Hey kids, you miss me?”

“Like you have no idea,” Anna answered immediately. She had stepped back from her father and was nervously fidgeting with the hem of her t-shirt. “I can’t cook, and JARVIS stopped working and we’re not supposed to leave without you or Mom and we ran out of cereal yesterday and everything is terrible.” Something in her tone was both panicked and apologetic.

“What’s all this then? Where’s your mother?” Tony had an idea. A cold horrible idea that he didn’t want to contemplate further. Maybe Mackenzie had taken ill, or been locked out of the penthouse when emergency protocols were activated. Denial thy name is Stark.

“She’s gone, Daddy.” James said gently at the same time that Anna snorted out a terse “she left.”

“What do you mean gone? Did she say when she was coming back?”

“She’s not.” Anna looked down and kicked at the floor with her bare feet. Tony inhaled and looked up to the ceiling. _Deep, calming breaths,_ he reminded himself before he could say something scathing. A small hand patted his arm and Tony looked down to where James was holding an envelope out to him.

_Anthony,_

_I don’t know how to tell you this, so I will just say it straight out. I’m not happy. I haven’t been for quite some time now. I do not love you, and I know that you never loved me. I do not begrudge you for that. But I cannot continue to live like this. I’m leaving you. Please do not look for me by the time you see this I will be long gone._

_Mackenzie_

That was all, one single sheet of floral stationery. No contact information, no mention of lawyers, not one sentence or word of concern for the children.The letter was not dated, so Tony had no idea how long the two had been alone or why Mackenzie had not called for their usual nanny.

“Okay, let’s go to the living room and I want you to tell me exactly what happened,” Tony suggested, scooping up James and leading the way. The boy was a bit big to be comfortably carried about and at an age where he sometimes fought against being treated as a baby though today it seemed he needed the comfort and reassurance.

Anna was already talking before they had left the kitchen, she had inherited Tony’s tendency to ramble when nervous. Though thankfully not his propensity for slightly insulting nicknames.

“She just up and left. It was almost like she had been planning it. After you left for work she told me to put on a movie for James and then went back to your room like when she has headaches. But then JARVIS went down sometime during the movie and I didn’t think it was a big deal because maybe he just needed to concentrate more on you or whatever, right? And then the movie finished and James was hungry so I went to find mom and she was gone.” By then they were seated on the plush sofa, James on Tony’s lap and Anna cuddled into his side.

“Her stuff was gone,” James took up the story now that his sister had paused for breath. His narrative style was more serious and straight to the point. “She took her clothes and jewelry and stuff. Her whole everything is empty. She just went away. Didn’t even say goodbye.”

“This was Friday?” Tony asked, even though he knew. The Avengers had received the call to assemble on Friday and JARVIS had lost contact only a few hours later. It was now Sunday night making two and a half days the kids had been alone. James nodded and burrowed into Tony’s chest, his forehead resting on the arc reactor.


	3. Chapter 2

Tony was woken by the sense that someone was watching him. Slowly, he shifted and opened his eyes to find Anna standing at the foot of his bed clutching an oversized stuffed frog.

“Hi baby,” Tony greeted her raspily. “Did you have another nightmare?” It was now a week since Mackenzie had left. Anna had always been prone to nightmares, after Afghanistan her unconscious scenarios had begun hitting a little closer to home and she developed a habit of checking that Tony was still there when she woke from a particularly vivid dream. Mackenzie used to insist that they soothe the girl then put her back to bed, but Tony who also had nightmares involving never seeing his loved ones again, merely pulled back the covers and let his daughter crawl in with him.

While Anna settled herself into the plush pillows Tony thought again about his plans. Very few people knew that Mackenzie had left. At this point it was only Rhodey, Pepper, and Steve. The last thing Tony wanted was a media scandal, especially when the wounds were still so fresh. He knew he would have to make a report, Mackenzie had left two children alone without any kind of adult supervision for days, that was unforgivable.

A cursory glance at his finances showed that she had also taken just over three million dollars from one of their joint bank accounts. That didn’t bother him nearly as much, he had made back that much and more before the theft had even been discovered. Tony removed her from all of his accounts as soon as he had things close to normal at home. 

JARVIS had been a quick fix, laughably easy and strangely apologetic upon being brought back online. It seemed the program believed his failure contributed to the extended situation. Which it had, but it wasn’t JARVIS’s failure so much as Tony’s and he refused to let the AI continue to blame himself. Besides, Tony had enough emotional crap to deal with without adding the guilt of a computer program he created to the mix.

Steve and Rhodey had both been awkward and sympathetic when Tony told them Mackenzie had left. He didn’t tell them the details and let them assume she had been waiting with her bags packed for him to get home. He didn’t exactly know why he was working so hard to spare her public embarrassment and scrutiny, she was right when she wrote that he’d never loved her. It was probably more that he didn’t want Anna and James to have to deal with everything yet. 

Tony had asked Pepper to discreetly find him a very good child psychologist. Someone who could help them through the multiple layers of trauma. If he was honest with himself, Tony knew that the day would have come sooner or later. It wasn’t just that they had been abandoned by their mother, growing up in the spotlight no matter how much their parents tried to shelter them would have taken it’s toll even without Tony’s superhero antics and the constant worry that they could be targeted because of it. Pepper was the only one who knew the true details of what happened. She had reacted with forced professionalism. For about the first two minutes, then she had begun to rage and rail against Mackenzie. The two women had never gotten along and now Pepper was truly allowed to express her distrust and disgust for the other woman.

Her reaction was part of the reason Tony decided to gloss things over when informing his best friend. Rhodey had more material to rage with than anyone. Instead he had offered a sympathetic smile and assurances that he would be there if Tony needed anything. Rhodey began discussing plans to come spend his entire leave with them saying it was his duty as godfather to spoil them rotten.

Steve had seemed confused and flustered by the situation. He didn’t really say or offer anything beyond promising not to call Tony in unless it was something the team absolutely would not be able to handle without him. Which was honestly more than Ton had been expecting.

But anyway, Anna’s nightmares were getting worse and she seemed unable or unwilling to spend more time than necessary for hygiene alone. When she wasn’t hovering near Tony she was practically smothering James with attention. She had even followed Pepper close enough to be a tripping hazard the last time the woman had been to visit. She would definitely benefit from talking with a professional about her new emotional insecurity.

On the other end of the spectrum was James who had become distant and standoffish after the initial cuddle fest. To Tony’s untrained eye it seemed that once he had assured himself that Tony wasn’t leaving he pushed him away so that if he changed his mind it wouldn’t hurt so much if James’ father followed suit and disappeared. And really, Tony didn’t know how to comfort and reassure both his children with their different needs and personalities without the aide of a professional. 

Anna scooted closer to Tony in her sleep the frog long since abandoned. Taking it as a cue, Tony attempted to shut off is brain and go back to sleep as well. It was a losing battle and after about ten minutes Tony carefully removed himself from the covers without jostling his daughter. Both children’s bedrooms were down the hall from the master with one guest room usually used by Rhodey when he was able to get time off.

Tony opened the second door slowly and was greeted by a soft blue light. James was nearly drowning in the covers and pillows. Tony turned down the nightlight to a barely there glow and adjusted the comforter so that it was no longer in danger of strangling the boy. Tony took a moment to just look at his son relaxed in sleep. James’ dark hair was spread across the pillows as he had recently become adverse to haircuts, his curls were nearing chin length now. His eyes were closed but Tony knew when they opened they would mirror his own brown. Hidden now by the piles of blankets, James was a chubby little six year old boy. Mackenzie had wanted to put him on a diet but Tony refused. “He’s six, there’s no need to give him a complex over something as inconsequential as a little baby fat. He eats well and plays hard, let him be.” Tony had argued every time she brought it up. “Some kids are just chubby.” Mackenzie hadn’t liked it, but she deferred to Tony on this matter. Especially after Tony had added “and don’t you dare say or suggest anything where either of them can hear you.”

Tony leaned down and kissed his son’s forehead before returning to his room before Anna could wake and find him gone. That was the last thing she needed.

When Tony returned to his room he saw that Anna had not moved except to reclaim the frog. Her features were still soft from childhood, but Tony could see how much she would grow up to look like her mother. Like her brother and father, she had dark eyes and hair though hers was almost perfectly straight. It was currently braided for bed, but in the day time she usually wore her hair loose down her back. But that was where the resemblance ended, from the Dawson side of the family Anna had inherited pale skin and a tendency to freckle rather than tan. She also had a rather prominent nose and heavy jaw that seemed almost at odds with the rest of her features. She had always been on the short side and would probably never grow up to be tall which combined with her lanky thinness made a picture of a lovable urchin from a regency novel. Tony thought she was adorable, Mackenzie didn’t always agree. “She’s going to want a nose job when she’s sixteen,” Mackenzie had commented offhand when Anna was about eight or nine. “I always hated my nose.”

“Yeah but you grew up with prep school snobs who made it their mission to make you hate everything about yourself. If she wants to have cosmetic surgery that’s a decision she can make as an adult but not an idea anyone is going to put into her head now.” And that had been the end of it. Looking back, Tony should have been more concerned about how concerned Mackenzie was about the children’s physical features.

She had been proud as anything when Anna had been selected to play the blue fairy in a school production of Pinocchio. Mackenzie cheered with the best of the soccer moms when Jake played. She told anyone who would listen how clever her children were, and seemed genuinely interested in their passions and accomplishments. But how much could it have meant if she were willing to leave them without warning?


	4. Chapter 3

James sat poking at his omelette listlessly. His usually healthy appetite had been stunted these past few days and Tony was hard pressed to force some nutrition into him. Even those child friendly meal supplement shakes weren't doing their job. 

Anna was munching on some peanut butter toast. Meal time seemed to be the only part of her day that had not been disrupted. Thinking about it more, Tony thought that maybe some structure and a return to a familiar routine was more important for the children than being nearby.

If he were being completely honest, the decision to keep them home for the past week had been mostly selfish. Much like Anna at her worst, Tony became anxious and worried if he weren't able to easily locate his children. This growing codependency was not going to help anyone in the long run. 

“Ok guys,” Tony announced suddenly causing even James to jump with surprise. “Vacation’s over. You go back to school on Monday and we’re going to spend the weekend meeting the candidates Pepper picked out.”

“Candidates for what?” James asked pronouncing the word carefully. 

“Nannies right?” Anna answered, looking up at Tony for confirmation. “Cuz we can't stay with just the bots when Dad goes back to work.”

“Thats right. I think I’ll be here to meet you after school for a few more days but eventually something's going to happen,” Tony paused not sure how they were going to take the next few sentences. It was one thing to know intellectually that they couldn't all hole up in the penthouse together forever and another thing to have a new timeline set up for them. “And when it does I’d like there to be someone here who already knows you.”

“Why can't Pepper do it?” James muttered sullenly. 

“Pepper already has a job. Anyway, I'm going to start going over resumes after breakfast and then we will have interviews starting after lunch. I want you guys there. Anyone we pick will have a trial run next week after you go back to school.” There, that sounded like a reasonable plan. Before Tony went back to work he would eventually get distracted and want to spend too much time in his lab. It would be best if there was someone here to look after them. At least James, Anna could fend for herself for a few hours at a time but she was much too young to be worried about looking after someone else. 

It had the added bonus of Tony being nearby in case the nanny select turned out to be a total dud. He trusted Pepper, he totally did, she’d had his back through a lot and wasn't afraid to tell him when he was crossing over from eccentric to just foolish it was more the potential nannies he was worried about. He wouldn't put it past SHEILD to try to sneak someone in much the same way they had Natasha. Even if that had turned out to be not-so-terrible, he didn’t want to go through it again.

And as much as he appreciated the help from Pepper, Tony couldn't help feeling guilty. As he had told James, Pepper had a job and it wasn't vetting potential nannies for him anymore than it was becoming one herself. One of the perks of being CEO was delegation, her assistants had assistants, but Tony knew this was a task Pepper would want to handle personally. And she had. The hand delivered stack of resumes with impressive references was a testament to that. Tony didn't care if someone had previously worked for delegates and royalty, he cared that the families they had worked for still thought of them fondly and that the children had grown up feeling loved and cared for. 

_Tony and Mackenzie had never been in love. They hadn't even been friends. At least not at first. They had been a drunken hookup that turned into more regular drunken hook ups that had resulted in a human life._

_They would have gone on with their lives, sharing custody of Anna and maybe occasionally continuing to hook up except for Mackenzie’s family. While Tony had been raised with results as the primary focus, the Dawsons were all about appearances and they could not have a daughter get pregnant out of wedlock. Mackenzie had been in real danger of being disowned, and while any child support from Tony would have been more than enough to keep her afloat just letting her be turned away from her family was not something that sat well with him. Especially when there was such a simple solution._

_Tony liked to think that over the years they had come to care for each other, maybe not love but something._

Once the dishes were put away, Anna pulled out some half assembled project she had been working on using a child’s engineering kit and some odds and ends pilfered from the lab. Tony wasn’t quite sure what she was trying to make and the structure itself wasn’t exactly sound, but he didn’t want to interfere. On the other end of the leather sofa, James was working his way through a short chapter book, he would occasionally ask for help with a word but mostly seemed to be managing on his own. Tony didn’t know if this was on schedule with the average child as he himself had been reading more advanced tomes at James’ age, but it seemed advanced to his biased mind.

And Tony looked through the lists of potential child care professionals. Only four of them really jumped out at him, there was the 23 year old who had recently graduated who claimed to have a degree in Early Childhood Development which sounded fake. There was the 55 year old empty nester who was looking for extra income and something to occupy her time now that her youngest had gone off to college. There was a thirty year old man who had worked in two daycare centers and just moved to New York and was looking for employment in the city and there was a 27 year old refugee from the latest crisis in the Middle East who needed promised employment to be granted resident status in the US. Everyone else was a little depressing to think about. 

**Author's Note:**

> In the prologue there are vague mentions of canon incidents of violence. The prologue ends with a scene involving an older child (12) using a stove and cooking for a younger child (6) and the implication that they have not had contact with an adult in at least 3 days. Their time alone is not shown in any detail.
> 
> In chapter 1 the children try to explain what happened.
> 
> In chapter 2 one of the children has a nightmare and the short term consequences of their abandonment begins to manifest. Also mentions of body image issues and parental disapproval of a child's weight.


End file.
